Andrew Scott on playing Ian Charleson in Elsinore and being an out gay actor

Andrew Scott has spoken about playing Ian Charleson in Elsinore and about working as an out gay actor, in an interview for The Hollywood Reporter's Awards Chatter podcast published on 6 Oct The Hollywood Reporter.

Scott plays Charleson in the film directed by Simon Stone, according to the same interview. Charleson was the British actor known for Chariots of Fire The Hollywood Reporter. He was gay The Hollywood Reporter.

The story centres on a late chapter in Charleson's life. After an AIDS diagnosis, he refused to step away from playing Hamlet at the National Theatre in London, the interview reports The Hollywood Reporter. That stage run forms the spine of the film.

Elsinore premiered at the Telluride Film Festival, the annual showcase in Colorado where studios often launch autumn releases. Focus Features will release the film on Nov. 20, according to The Hollywood Reporter The Hollywood Reporter. Scott is credited as a producer as well as its lead, meaning he helped guide the project behind the camera too.

Scott publicly came out as gay in a 2013 interview, as he discussed in the podcast. He spoke about what that openness has meant for his career and for taking on Charleson's story.

For audiences unfamiliar with the history, the wider context is stark. No out gay actor or actress had ever won an Oscar, The Hollywood Reporter noted in a Telluride awards analysis on 5 Sept The Hollywood Reporter.

What makes this stand out is the direct line between actor and part. Scott is telling the story of a gay predecessor who kept performing Shakespeare through illness, while speaking openly about his own experience as a gay performer more than a decade after coming out.